Dispensing device



Nov. 30, 1954 J. H. M. VAN DooRNlK DISPENSING DEVICE Filed April 21, 1952 United States PatentV DISPENSING DEVICE p i Johannes Henricus Maria van Doornik, Wassenaar, Netherlands, assignor to Johanna Margaretha Maria van Doornik, Wassenaar, Netherlands The` invention relatesto an incompressible tube with cap, e. g. for tooth-paste, paint, ointment or any other pasty material. It has for its object to provide a tube of a simple construction which is suitable for mass production.

According to the invention a piston or displacer is arranged in sliding t engagement in the rigid tube body, e. g. made of plastic or any other suitable material, and the rigid tube cap, e. g. likewise made of plastic, wood, or any other suitable material, can be inserted in the open end of the body remote from the mouth of the tube to contact with the piston or displacer, in order to displace the same in inward direction.

According to the invention the outside diameter of at least part of the cap, preferably the lower end, with which the cap can be put or screwed on the mouth of the tube, may be almost equal to the inside diameter of the tube-body, so that the cap may be inserted in sliding fit engagement in the body of the tube in order to displace the piston in said body over the axial distance required for expelling part of the contents of the tube. Preferably the length of the cap will substantially correspond with the maximum distance over which the piston may be displaced from the end position when the tube is completely filled to the other end position when the tube is em t lgeelause the cap itself is directly guided in the tubebody no separate guide members are required on the piston or the tube-body respectively for preventing the cap from jamming when the plston is displaced. The

piston may, therefore, be a simple flat disk-like member and the tube-body may at the end remote from the mouth be simply open tubular; the open end may be liared.

The construction is extremely simple and suited for mass production at a low cost price.

When the tube is in its filled initial position the open end of the tube-body, then containing the piston, may be temporarily closed by means of an easily removable adhesive plaster or a similar means. i

According to a specific embodiment of the principle underlying this invention the tube may according to the invention at the end remote from the mouth be provided with a detachable closure `member having a central opening in which the cap may be inserted in sliding t engagement and/ or the piston or displacer may on the side which faces outwardly be provided with a centering means for an end of the cap.

The construction with a detachable closure member which e. g. may be screwed in and out, which closure member has a central guide opening for the cap, renders it possible by pressing thecap through said opening against the piston or displacer to expel the contents of the tube. The tube may be placed in an upright position resting on the closure member, said closure member may as a guide member for the cap be combined with a centering means on the piston, which centering means according to the invention may consist of a pen-shaped protrusion on the piston, or a recess in the piston over which or in which respectively, the cap may be slidingly fitted.

According to the invention it is also possible to omit the closure member and only to use a centering means `for the cap on the piston. For a proper central guiding when expelling part of the contents of the tube a relatively long protrusion on the piston rnay be used. The cap will preferably be as long or substantially as long as the tubebody so as to` make it possible to completely expel the contents of the tube without it being necessary to insert 21,695,735 Patented Nov. 30, 1954 `ice a linger in the tube-body` When the tube is completely empty the free end of the cap will be llush with or substantially flush with the end of the tube remote from the mouth, of, if use is made of a closure member, flush with the plane surfaced outside thereof.

'Ihe tube may be operated in a very easy manner and with one hand. i

The nozzle of the tube will preferably be of the same diameter. as the centrering means on the piston or the displacer, so that the cap may then be easily put on the nozzle in sliding t engagement.

The drawing elucidates the invention with some embodiments.. i 7 i p i Fig. lshows a longitudinal section, partly in elevation, of a tube with cap according to the invention.

Fig. 2 shows said tube with the cap inserted in the tube-body.

Fig. 3 shows a tube according to the invention, partly in longitudinal section, partly in elevation, the cap being shown in two positions, viz. on the tube and inserted in the tube (indicated in dotted line).

Fig. 4 shows the tube in the position in which it is used, the cap contacting with the piston in the tube.

The tube represented in the drawing comprises a rigid body 1 having a circular cross-section, which body is e. g. made of plastic and has a nozzle 2 provided with an external screw-thread, on which nozzle the lower end 3 of a rigid tube-cap 4, e. g. made of plastic, is screwed, which lower end is provided with a corresponding internal screw-thread. The outside diameter of the lower end 3 is substantially equal to the inside diameter of the tube body 1, so that the lower end 3 will slidingly t in the tube-body. The upper end of the cap has-with a view to economizing on material a smaller diameter than the lower end 3. A disk-shaped piston 5 is provided in sliding lit engagement in the tube-body. The piston comprises a central pen-shaped part 6, which may be received with some play in a correspondingly shaped chamber 7 in the end of the tube-nozzle.

Fig. 2 shows how the cap 4 has displaced the piston 5 in inward direction over a certain axial distance.

The tube-body is at the open lower end at 8 somewhat flared in order to promote an easy insertion of the cap.

The length of the cap 4 is substantially equal to that of the tube-body. l

The tube may be placed in upright position on the open lower end of the body.

According to the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4 the tube comprises a cylindrical body 1 which via a conical part 9 merges into a cylindrical nozzle 10 having a lateral outlet 11. A cap 12 is provided in sliding t engagement on the nozzle 10 (Fig. 3). `In the tube-body 1 a piston or disk-like displacer 5 is provided in slidingiit engagement; said piston is on the outside provided with a central pen-shaped guide member 13, on which member the cap may be put in sliding iit engagement (vide the dotted position of the cap in Fig. 3). The open end of the tube-body is closed by means of an annular closure member 14 which with an external screw thread is screwed in the internal screw thread of the tube-body. The closure member comprises a central opening 15 in which the cap 12 may be inserted in sliding fit engagement. Guide member 13 and opening 15 are co-axial. The cap 12 is substantially of the same length as tube body 1 with closure member 14. The nozzle 10, the opening 15 and the guide member 13 are substantially of the same diameter as the bore in the cap 12.

A manner in which the tube may be held with one hand and'in which at the same time the cap may be operated with a iinger of the same hand to displace the piston for qxpelling part of the contents of the tube appears from It is evident that the invention except for a tube with a one-piece body likewise holds good for a tube with a body consisting of two or more longitudinal sections of the same or substantially the same length according to applicants Dutch patent application No. 164,378.

I claim:

1. An incompressible dispensing tube for tooth paste, paint, ointment and other pasty material comprising, in combination, a rigid tube body having a neck provided forclosingengagement therewith;- said end ofl said :cap being adapted .to bey inserted in the oppositeopen end Vof the tfbody;of the Vtube for vcontact with the .displaceable member to displace said memberin :the direction of .said v mouth.

2. Tube with cap according to claim 1, characterized irl-that at least part of therigid cap member has, an externaldiameter which is substantially-equal to. thexinternal diameterof the body of thetube, so that the cap` may be inserted in the tube-.body in sliding iituengagement. t

3. Tube according to claim 1, characterized yin that the displaceable member on theside which faces outwardly is provided with a protrusion which fits into the recess of the cap:

4. Tube according to claim 1, characterized in that tjhed cap is of substantially the same length as the tube- 5. Tube according to c1aim\1, characterized in that the neck of the tube is of the samediameter as the centering means on the displaceable member.D

References Citedin the tile of this patent,

UNITED STATES. PATENTS Number t Name Date 381,553 Hollis Apr. 24, 1888 1,898,803 'Y Young Feb. 21, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 402,489 Italy; Mar. 11, 1943 

